windows watched the snow driving by.

The hours were too few for John. He served her as the crusader served
his chosen lady. The spirit of the old knights of chivalry that had
descended upon him still held him in a spell that he did not wish to
break. Often she mocked at him and laughed at him, and then he liked her
all the better. No placid, submissive woman, shrinking before the
dangers, would have pleased him. In her light laughter and her banter,
even at his expense, he read a noble courage and a lofty soul, and in
their singular isolation it was given to him to see her spirit, so
strong and yet so rarely sweet in a manner that the circumstances of
ordinary life could never have brought forth. And the faithful Suzanne,
still in her double role of servant and guardian, served and guarded
them both.

John at this time began to feel a more forgiving spirit toward
Auersperg. It might well be that this man of middle years, so thoroughly
surrounded by old, dead things that he had never seen the world as it
really was, had been bewitched. A sort of moon madness had made him
commit his extraordinary deed, and John could view it with increasing
tolerance because he had been bewitched himself.

He made another and more extended survey of their stores and confirmed
his first opinion that the lodge was furnished in full princely style.
They need not lack for any of the comforts, nor for many luxuries, no
matter how long they remained.

On the morning of the third day the storm ceased and they looked out
upon a white, shining world of snow, lofty and impressive, peaks and
ridges outlined sharply against a steel-blue sky. John had found a pair
of powerful glasses in the lodge and with them he was now able to make
out Zillenstein quite clearly. Clothed in snow, a castle all in white,
it was nevertheless more menacing than ever.

John believed that Muller would surely come, and many and many a time he
thought over the problem how to deal with him. But the new, windless day
passed and there was no sign of the forester. John himself went forth,
breaking paths here and there through the snow, but he discovered
nothing. He began to believe that Muller had been forced to take shelter
at the start of the storm and could not now return. His hope that it was
so strong that his mind turned it into a fact, and Muller disappeared
from his thoughts.

The garage, besides the great automobile, contained a smaller one, but
John kept the